Although the US Department of Justice (DOJ) has the power to block mergers it deems against antitrust laws, Trump’s influence on the DOJ cannot be ignored. While Paramount previously seemed to establish a good relationship with the president, Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos may have done the same more recently.
“Sarandos spoke with the president for about two hours over the past few weeks,” The Hollywood Reporter reported Sunday, citing “multiple” unnamed sources. A White House official told the publication that they could not comment on “private meetings that may or may not have occurred” and Netflix did not respond to the publication’s requests for comment.
Meanwhile, Trump’s relationship with Ellison and Paramount may have recently taken a turn. Today, the President attacked Paramount over an interview with Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) that aired on the news program. 60 minutesAs he said on Truth Social, according to The Hollywood Reporter: “However, my real problem with the show wasn’t the low IQ traitor, it was that 60 Minutes, Paramount’s new ownership, would allow such a show to air, They’re no better than the old ownership, who paid me millions of dollars for fake reporting about your favorite president, me! Since they bought it, 60 Minutes has actually gotten worse,”
Appeal to the film theater industry
The movie theater industry is one of the biggest critics of Netflix’s WB acquisition, due to fears that the streaming leader will not release more movies in theaters for a long time and could reduce licensing fees. Paramount is caving into this panic.
As one of the oldest film studios (Paramount was founded in 1912 as the Famous Players Film Company), Paramount has deep ties to the theater business. Ellison claimed that if Paramount and WBD merged, “there would be a greater number of movies in theaters.”
Sarandos said last week that Netflix plans to maintain WBD’s current theatrical release schedule, which will reportedly run through 2029.
In terms of streaming, Paramount’s announcement pointed to “the combination of Paramount+ and HBO Max”, giving credence to a November report that if Paramount buys WBD it would turn HBO Max into its flagship streaming service.
With multiple industries, big names, billions of dollars, and politics, the saga of the WBD split and/or merger is just beginning.
This article was updated with comment from Sarandos at 2:31 pm ET on December 8.
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